Thanks for all the various bits of information in response to my earlier questions – much appreciated.

Though there had been flights since the beginning of the year, when it was handed over from the RAF, “London’s New Air Terminal” officially opened on Friday, 31 May 1946 -72 years ago this very day. The photograph below appeared in an American newspaper the beginning of the following week – I just love the spade stuck into the earth in the right foreground:

I wonder if this photo of BOAC Whitley G-AGDY could have been taken the same day. We know that Charles Brown took a colour photograph of an Ensign G-ADSU that day, with ground crew attending it. (Sorry about the quality; it is from a clipping that is just 6 cm x 2.5 cm). Maybe this was a similar shot:

Good find!

The photograph is less clear but the aircraft are there nevertheless, towards the upper left-hand corner:

I have some questions about runway use at LAP but, before that, a bit of background. I apologise to those who already know the early history of Heathrow but, for those who do not, here’s a brief synopsis.

Around 1930, Richard Fairey bought a 150-acre plot of land, adjacent to Cain’s Lane, from the local vicar and established the Great West Aerodrome. Fairey built and tested aircraft there and the RAeS held some garden parties there. It wasn’t long before Air Ministry officials regarded it as the ideal location for London’s main airport but knew Fairey would object, as would the County Council (it had located a ‘sludge works’ nearby) and the Ministry of Agriculture (it was productive land). Then along came WWII. Fairey wanted to expand the airfield but was rebuffed by the Air Ministry, which was developing its own plans. Under Defence Regulations, Fairey was, in 1944, ordered to quit and property in and around the site was requisitioned, ostensibly to build a new airfield from which RAF Transport Command could fly troops and war material to the Far East and help defeat the Japanese. This was never the Air Ministry’s true intention.

As part of the subterfuge, Heathrow was originally built as a ‘typical’ RAF airfield, with tree runways laid out in a triangular pattern, as shown below under construction in 1945 (an RAF photograph, I believe). I have numbered the three runways. Runway 1, the only one of the three completed by the time Heathrow opened to civil traffic in January 1946, is one of the two main runways now. Runway 2 was only 25% complete in early 1946 and I recall it being in use in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Runway 3 was 50% complete in 1946 and was not available when I started visiting LAP, as the central area had been built over it. Runway 3 had cost £350,000 (in mid-1940s money) but, apparently, there was never any intention to use it as a runway, which leads me to my question.

Does anyone know if Runway 3 was ever used for aircraft to land or take off?

As the dentist says, “Open wide, please”:

In 1945, Tangye married the actress Ann Todd; she was in ‘The Seventh Veil”, a successful film that year. You may recall James Mason bringing his cane down on her fingers as she played the piano, a scene not easily forgotten. She later married the film maker David Lean and, more relevant to this website, appeared in his film ‘The Sound Barrier’, as the daughter of the factory owner and wife of the test pilot.